- Maps at launch
- 12 Core 6v6 maps, each with a custom infil, plus four Gunfight 2v2 maps, three Ground War maps in Hajin and Kill Block. Shipment followed on 27 October.
- Kill Block
- A separate reconfiguring map built from modular Slabs, with more than 500 configurations (callofduty.com).
- New modes
- Hijack, Inflation, Frontline and Collateral.
- DMZ
- Extraction in Hajin, an exclusion zone left by the Campaign's events. Solo or squad; Activision never states a lobby size.
- Warzone
- Stays separate, but takes Modern Warfare 4 content and seasonal progression from Season 1, with Zodiac and Hajin as new maps.
Multiplayer at launch
Twelve Core maps
Activision says the game launches with 12 Core 6v6 maps spanning locations around the world, each with a custom infil and its own visual identity. Kill Block, the Gunfight maps and the Big War maps are described as additional to those twelve. Shipment, the tiny container map, returned, but not as one of the twelve: Activision called it post-launch, and it arrived on 27 October.
Smartstreaks
Killstreaks now progress from objective play as well as kills. Activision says kills remain the primary driver.
Two Prestige paths
Classic Prestige is the traditional reset — Create-a-Class progression relocked in exchange for higher XP earn rates and exclusive rewards. Regular Prestige restarts from Level 1 without resetting Create-a-Class, with its own rewards and milestones.
Nine Mastery Camos
Each weapon's camo track runs across Multiplayer, DMZ and Warzone, with three Mastery Camos to earn in each — nine in total.
A movement training course
At the West Bridge training facility, with tutorials, timed runs and Beginner, Intermediate and Expert tiers rated from C-minus to S. Two sources call it Proving Grounds at launch; Activision's launch post also calls it the Mobility Course. The beta version awarded a weapon charm.
The modes, with their rules
| Mode | Size | How it works |
|---|---|---|
| Hijack — new | 6v6 | Both teams fight over a single Data Spike near the middle of the map and push it to the enemy Comm Station. Carry it, throw it or pass it; planted, it scores over time with a bonus when it detonates. Defenders defuse. Carrying it replaces your Lethal input with the throw. |
| Inflation — new | 6v6 | Eliminations pay cash. Pass the High Value Target threshold and your position is revealed to the whole enemy team. Eliminated players drop cash either side can collect, and Overtime raises the multipliers. |
| Collateral — new | Not given | Built on Search and Destroy: earn in-match cash from kills and objective play, spend it each round on a limited pool of weapons and equipment. Single life — die and the whole loadout goes. |
| Frontline — new | 6v6 | A respawn mode where you always deploy from your own base. Eliminations score, and score more when taken outside the enemy base. |
| Team Deathmatch | 6v6 | First to the score limit, or ahead when time expires. Unlimited respawns. |
| Domination | 6v6 | Three flags, A, B and C, scoring over time. Sides switch at half the score limit; first to 200 wins. |
| Hardpoint | 6v6 | One scoring zone, held uncontested, rotating to a new location every minute. First to 250 wins. |
| Kill Confirmed | 6v6 | Kills drop Dog Tags; only collected tags score, and recovering your own denies the enemy. |
| Search and Destroy | 6v6 | Two bomb sites, one life per round, no respawns, sides switching every round. |
| Gunfight | 2v2; 3v3 and 10v10 on Kill Block | Four dedicated 2v2 maps: Cafe, Library, NYC and Smuggler. Single-life rounds with a randomized loadout shared by everyone. On Kill Block the map reconfigures into a new Combo every two rounds and issues a new loadout; teams swap spawn sides between rounds. An Overtime Flag appears if nobody is eliminated in time. |
| Ground War: Combat Outpost | 32v32 for Activision; 24v24 in Game Informer's review | Establish Outposts to earn resources and spend them on further objectives. Captured Outposts become spawn points, and team rewards escalate from local UAV coverage to armoured vehicle support. Infantry and vehicles together. Three maps in Hajin: Imjin Farmland, Wolves Stadium and Forest. |
The six maps the beta ran
| Map | Where it is set |
|---|---|
| Cachette | A hideout beside a French rail terminal — cobblestone streets, shipping containers, rooftops and tight interiors. |
| Lithium | A damaged lithium processing plant in rural Mexico, with garage doors that toggle open and shut and strong mid-range sightlines. |
| Lotus | A battle-scarred Korean fishing village: abandoned tanks, burning buildings, narrow streets and a long main thoroughfare. |
| Rooftops | The snow-covered rooftops of New York's Hotel Times West, with exterior walkways and compact interiors. |
| Silkworm | A dense South Korean shopping district around a subway entrance — storefronts, alleyways and apartments, close to mid range. |
| Transit 213 | An overgrown Indian bus depot where a lot of rusting buses splits the map into lanes, with sightlines across the Center Lot. |
Kill Block
Activision describes it as a live-fire training facility rather than a conventional map: a space that reconfigures between rounds, reshaping sightlines, routes and cover. It is assembled from purpose-built modular sections — Slabs — capable of more than 500 distinct configurations, with weather ranging from clear to rain to snow, and Activision promises more sections during the live seasons. Some Slabs carry recognisable pieces of older Modern Warfare maps including Crash, Highrise and Shoot House, dropped in at random positions. In the beta it ran Gunfight at 3v3 and the new 10v10; Activision says it is built to support Core modes and Killstreaks, with Search and Destroy and Domination already in testing. Two small inconsistencies worth knowing: the announcement places it in the Westbridge Training Facility while the beta blog calls the same place the West Bridge Advanced Military Training Facility, and Kill Block is counted separately from the twelve Core maps, not among them.
DMZ: the Hajin exclusion zone
Where it is
Hajin sits in a tri-point region bordering Russia and the Korean peninsula, scarred by radiation, mass evacuation and the collapse of civilian infrastructure after the Campaign. It is reportedly a South Korean exclusion zone following a nuclear reactor meltdown. Activision calls it one of the largest environments the series has built.
What is in it
Named points of interest include the irradiated Fallout reactor, a secured Prison complex, the remains of Hajin City and a defended Military Base, plus sealed and secret areas, entrances reachable only by water, and a heavy-fallout sector in the east that needs a gas mask.
What you do there
You play an off-the-books CIA asset recovering abandoned military technology before hostile forces get it. Activities split into Story Missions that push the narrative, multi-step Dynamic Operations generated per match, Side Ops such as repairing trucks or scaling radio towers, and free roam.
The threat system
Activity raises a threat level, and the response escalates: attack helicopters, heavier troops, and eventually Deathstalkers sent to hunt you. Roaming commanders include tanks, drone swarms, Deathstalker helicopters, Juggernauts and Elite Strike Teams, with Lieutenants leading specialist units. A Stealth Meter warns when AI is about to spot you, shading white to yellow to orange.
A world that moves
Weather shifts mid-run — downpours cutting visibility, fog and overcast skies changing familiar routes. Convoys move on the roads and aircraft overhead, while hostile forces reposition assets and rival squads fight for key locations.
How big a squad is
Sources disagree. Activision says Squad Fill matches you with two other players, and Dexerto quotes the developers on "trios with trios": three. IGN says teams of up to four. Activision has not published a lobby size.
The Forward Operating Base
- Orders and Objectives — track active missions, completed objectives and available rewards before heading back out.
- Stash and Loadout — a persistent inventory of weapons, equipment, consumables and valuables. Each Active Duty operator has their own backpack and loadout, and the Stash grows as you rank up in DMZ.
- Wallet — in-game cash for weapons, attachments, rescuing MIA operators and buying Lieutenant intel, earned mainly from missions and operations.
- 3D Printer — craft gear from resources brought back: night vision, ballistic vests, backpacks, consumables and killstreaks. It cannot make primary, secondary or melee weapons.
- Gunsmith — buy weapons and attachments with cash; better ones cost more. Five attachments plus an Apex Attachment is the norm, though Activision says eight-attachment weapons exist out in Hajin. Weapon progression is shared with Multiplayer.
- Weapon Vendor — a limited, rotating selection of pre-built weapons delivered straight to your Stash.
- Firing Range — a first-person range beside the Gunsmith for testing builds.
- Active Duty — manage operators, including ones awaiting recovery after a failed exfil, each with their own persistent Trait tree.
- Boss Board — intel on hostile Lieutenants, purchasable to pinpoint them, or obtainable from Hunt Towers in the field.
- Activision says the FOB itself upgrades over time, unlocking services and visibly changing as you progress.
Warzone
Warzone stays a separate free game, but from Season 1 it integrates Modern Warfare 4 content and seasonal progression. Two new maps were announced at Call of Duty: NEXT: Zodiac, a Resurgence map built by Beenox with a train as its notable feature, and the DMZ map Hajin, coming to Battle Royale. Both arrive in Season 1, on 6 November 2026. Zodiac was playable in the beta's second weekend, and one beta report — over 50 hours in — rated it the highlight, praising the spacing and the loot changes and finding it more fluid than the multiplayer. Activision also confirmed the other side of the transition: Warzone on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One stops being playable when Season 1 launches, new downloads on those platforms ended on 4 June and the in-game store closed on 25 June.
Cross-checked
Cross-checked on 22 September 2026 against callofduty.com's posts, Xbox Wire, the PlayStation Blog, and the coverage of GamingTrend, and on 3 October 2026 against GameSpot's report of the Shipment confirmation. Activision never states a DMZ player count, the largest squad size is disputed above, and Activision's own posts spell the Kill Block facility two different ways; both are recorded above. Re-checked on 26 October 2026 against callofduty.com's launch posts, IGN, Dexerto, Insider Gaming and GAMES.GG; the Ground War team size also against Game Informer's review. Not from a playthrough: checked against the sources above. Still to confirm in-game. Re-checked on 5 November 2026: that Shipment went live on 27 October against the Oct 27 playlist update in callofduty.com's launch patch notes, read through a search engine because the page would not load, and TechBloat.